Friday, August 19, 2011

The lines are clearly drawn now, sides taken and the first set of salvo fired from both sides- clearly this round to TEAM ANNA. The events of the last few days have transformed this country into a sea of young Indians having answered the call of their conscience, willing to participate and question the highest order in our country.

This storm has taken everyone by surprise especially the political class for whom it seemed was a prerogative until not long ago to protest and arm-twist the people of this country. The battle for the JAN LOKPAL BILL has touched many a different chords now. Here is a modest attempt to make order out of chaos.

The mood on the streets is different.

If you scan the streets today, people are angry, irate and are demanding a change. A single bill with contentious clauses cannot possibly trigger such kind of a response. It’s not the first time a very controversial bill has made it to the front page. The Nuclear Liability Bill came very close but others like the Women’s Reservation Bill and Reservation bill never created such a stir. The Lokpal Bill however has now turned into a revolution. This bill was special simply because the fight was now out of the gutters of Indian Politics into the open where Anna Hazare and the Civil Society members with morals of impeccable order questioned the intentions and commitment of the government – which the government certainly failed to salvage. Through this bill the dark tactics of the government and the politics of suppression were witnessed by a whole country only further establishing the need for an independent watchdog – THE JAN LOKPAL. It’s now about fighting this suppression and insult that the Government unleashed on simple Indians – a cause bigger than what any Bill represented.

People today have seen the true colors of this government. The government’s handling of this bill has been shoddy to say the least. We are disturbed to know that we are being run by people who can stoop down to any limits to mask there incompetency and unwillingness in passing this legislature.

Why is India Angry?

Back in April when Anna first went on a fast the demand was simple to bring the Lokpal bill into effect – a bill pending for over 40 yrs. A joint drafting committee formed was just to postpone the issue and buy some time – the motives more clear now – but a resilient and resolute Civil Society did not bend.The mudslinging which followed was targeted at every member of the civil society. My Question: If you believed it to be true, why share the table with them in the first place? What were you doing so long??The accusations leveled against Team Anna were so sickening and baseless that it fuelled belief that the government shall go to any extent to block this bill as if it was all a personal battle with too much at stake for the grand old party of India. Congress and its ministers – Sibal, Chidambaram, Digvijay Singh and Manish Tiwary – treating a 74 yrs. old Gandhian with such pathetic language is totally unacceptable to any Indian. Anna today says he regrets his decision to end his fast in April – we understand why.

The anger is against this arrogant government who believes that with a weak opposition that exists today it can get away with anything. It is against the group of ministers who consider themselves above the law and believe the numbers in the parliament gave them immunity against public disapproval so much so that they speak of the parliamentary system being above the constitution and the people who elect them. It is against a party which never lets the all-powerful de-facto rulers face any scrutiny or accountability. It is against the government which measures Indians with different yardsticks. It is against the government which can abuse power to an extent of completely ignoring the misconducts of its ministers till the Supreme Court steps out of its way to directly question the Prime Minister and still this party brashly denounces it as unnecessary judicial activism. People are outraged to a government which sets up inquiry panels only to disown its finding and disgrace its members publicly. People also hate the party that appointed a very capable individual as the head of the state only to turn him into a puppet with no powers to take decisions. People hate the manner in which one family is somehow portrayed above the law and concessions prearranged for them by the government.

The lines are drawn. Earlier it was the divide between religions, communities, casts, between the rich and the poor; now the line divides the power abusers and the abused. People of this country have refused to be treated secondary to the political class and the power abusers. The politicians suddenly find themselves in unfamiliar territory where a simple Gandhian has united the people of this country into an awakened force which having seen the dark side of their leaders refuses to be taken for a ride.

Anna Hazare has done something no one had done before – change the lenses through which we scrutinize our leaders. Anna Hazare has bought the political class down within sight of the common man where he can understand the dirty game the politicians play so well. The JAN LOKPAL BILL has done more than just sought to eradicate corruption, it has actually implanted seeds of a new IDEOLOGICAL REVOLUTION in the India – AJAADI KI DOOSRI LADHEE SHUROO HO GAYI HAI !!!!

2 comments
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Good, keep it up. When you hear the PM and his cronies talking the blood really starts boiling.What do these people think of democracy? Did we elect them to protect common/public interests or loot the public and common resources? The politicians say the parliament is supreme, the judges say the courts are supreme, the bureaucrats say that nothing will move without them and all of them treat the real sovereign entities of this country as so much trash! It is a golden opportunity that Anna has provided them to correct their courses without blood shed because if Anna's efforts fail the next step may be only civil war.

@ P M RAVINDRAN: You are right, the situation has reached a tipping point. Everyone realizes that time is running out and we have waited too long to come up against these politicians. The idea behind the lokpal bill was always to make the government and the politicians accountable to the people who elect them, and as now the country asks questions the bill has truly served its purpose. This movement will certainly change the way in which the politicians perceive the people who vote for them. The educated middle class has certainly refused to be taken for granted.